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Peter John Sallis[3] was born on 1 February 1921 in Twickenham, Middlesex, the only child of bank manager Harry Sallis (1889–1964) and Dorothy Amea Frances (née Barnard; 1891–1975).[4][5] After attending Minchenden Grammar School in Southgate, north London, Sallis went to work in a bank, working on shipping transactions. After the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the RAF. He was unable to serve as aircrew because of a serum albumin disorder and was told he might black out at high altitudes.[citation needed] He became a wireless mechanic instead and went on to teach radio procedures at RAF Cranwell.[6]

Sallis then spent three years in rep before appearing in his first speaking role on the London stage in 1949.[6] Other roles followed in the 1950s and 1960s including Orson Welles' 1955 production of Moby Dick—Rehearsed.[1] In his autobiography, Fading into the Limelight, Sallis recounts a later meeting with Welles where he received a mysterious telephone call summoning him to the deserted Gare d'Orsay in Paris where Welles announced he wanted him to dub Hungarian bit-players in his cinema adaptation of Kafka's The Trial (1962). As Sallis wrote, "the episode was Kafka-esque, to coin a phrase". Later, he was in the first West End production of Cabaret in 1968 opposite Judi Dench.[7]

He was cast in the BBC comedy series The Culture Vultures (1970), which saw him play stuffy Professor George Hobbs to Leslie Phillips's laid-back rogue Dr Michael Cunningham.[13] During the production, Phillips was rushed to hospital with an internal haemorrhage and as a result, only five episodes were completed.[14]

Sallis was cast in a pilot for Comedy Playhouse which became the first episode of Last of the Summer Wine (retrospectively titled "Of Funerals and Fish", 1973), as the unobtrusive lover of a quiet life, Norman Clegg.[1] The pilot was successful and the BBC commissioned a series. Sallis had already worked on stage with Michael Bates, who played the unofficial ringleader Blamire in the first two series. Sallis played the role of Clegg from 1973 to 2010, and was the only cast member to appear in every episode. He also appeared, in 1988, as Clegg's father in First of the Summer Wine,[9] a prequel to Last of the Summer Wine set in 1939.

He appeared in the children's series The Ghosts of Motley Hall (1976–78), in which he played Arnold Gudgin, an estate agent who did not want to see the hall fall into the wrong hands,[9] and he played Rodney Gloss in the BBC series Murder Most English (1977).[19] In the same period, he starred alongside Northern comic actor David Roper in the ITV sitcom Leave it to Charlie as Charlie's pessimistic boss.[20] The programme ran for four series, ending in 1980. Sallis also played the part of the ghost-hunter Milton Guest in the children's paranormal drama series The Clifton House Mystery (1978).[21]

While a student in 1983, animator Nick Park wrote to Sallis asking him if he would voice his character Wallace, an eccentric inventor. Sallis agreed to do so for a donation of £50 to his favourite charity.[26] The work was eventually released in 1989 and Aardman Animations' Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out went on to great success winning a BAFTA award.[26] Sallis reprised his role in the Oscar- and BAFTA Award-winning films The Wrong Trousers in 1993 and A Close Shave in 1995.[1]

In 2006, Sallis published a well-received autobiography entitled (with his typical self-deprecation) Fading into the Limelight.[27] Roger Lewis in The Mail on Sunday commented that "though Sallis is seemingly submissive, he has a sly wit and sharp intelligence that make this book a total delight".[28] Despite his nearly 37 years in Last of the Summer Wine, this is far from the main focus of the book, in which Sallis also recounts the early era of his relationship with Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park when it took six years for A Grand Day Out to be completed. He says that his work as Wallace has "raised his standing a few notches in the public eye".[29]

Sallis married actress Elaine Usher at St. John's Wood Church in London on 9 February 1957.[30][4][31] However, it was a turbulent relationship, with Usher leaving him 16 times before they divorced in 1965 on grounds of desertion and adultery.[6] They were eventually reconciled and continued to live together until 1999; and Sallis remained close to Usher until her death in 2016.[1][32][33] They had one son, Crispian Sallis (born 1959), who went on to become an Oscar-nominated film set designer.[1]

Sallis suffered from macular degeneration,[1] and in 2005 recorded an appeal on BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Macular Society of which he was a patron.[34] He also recorded on behalf of the society a television appeal, which was broadcast on BBC One on 8 March 2009. Following his diagnosis of the disease, Aardman produced a short animated film for the society.[35]